Friday, 30 January 2015

I’ve been stuck for a few weeks as I can’t get my hands on any DMC 498 to finish the stitching….I’ve tried a few different places..it must be a very popular colour. So now I’ve ordered some online and I’m waiting for it to arrive.

Each of these finish at 3in square…they are soooooo cute! And I must say, working in the Tilda fabrics makes it all the more enjoyable…..aren’t they delectable?

Over the weekend I’ll work on getting the top together for when my threads arrive before I can sandwich it next week. (or maybe I’ll just use a similar red thread and finish it all over the weekend? What do you think?)

This morning I had to sell raffle tickets and instead of sitting there twiddling my thumbs, I took along some of my favourite stitchery designs to do when times were slow.

This is one of the stitcheries from my good friend Jenny’s Stitchery Club. They are so sweet, and really quick to stitch up. I stitched the wording in a couple of hours…..took me so long because I was chatting and getting coffee and writing tickets and…..well……you know, getting distracted every now and then just a little! (not like me AT ALL?!)

You can join the club too and receive 6 sweet stitcheries a month. Just subscribe on her blog HERE or grab a copy of individual stitcheries from the Stitchery Club at her Craftsy shop. Each of the designs in the Club set is available as single purchase patterns from the 17th of each month. They are priced between $3.95 and $5.95 each, but as a Stitchery Club subscriber you receive the whole lot for just $9.95! Jenny blesses us so, don’t you think?

Tuesday, 27 January 2015

I promised three winners this month and Mr RNG and I have been busy swirling your names around in a BIG barrel.But before I share them with you, this is what I got up to on Friday Night.....

I can't really show you too much but I CAN tell you I spent the evening designing and finalising a new FREE Block of the Month that I'll be sharing with you all, come March 1st. This is just a 'sneaky' of one of the blocks, so I'm on a time frame of five weeks to get it all stitched up and ready to share with you in just over a month's time!I'll tell you more about it as February progresses, and yes, there will be more sneakies, I promise!

Now, let's get down to business....drumroll please................................from the 65 wonderful, crafty people we had together on Friday night, Mr RNG helped me pick three..... first up is :

You've each won an Elefantz pattern with some fabric to go with it and coordinating thread.

CONGRATULATIONS!

I hope you enjoy them, I'm sure you will. Jenny creates such beautiful designs, who wouldn't love to receive one?Next month, FNSI will be held on February 20th so make sure you write it into your calendars - paper and electronic, in your diaries and post it in your phone reminders...you don't want to forget!

Sunday, 25 January 2015

Anyway, for those of you who are new to my blog…..I’m Wendy, the owner and creator of Sugarlane Designs.

I am married to this wonderful man

and these are our kids….

Charlie -

Ralph -

and not to be forgotten, Nick -

They usually appear in my blog, somewhere along the line, so I thought I’d better introduce them. I love stitching and quilting so you’ll see a fair bit of that, sometimes you’ll see a recipe or two and I feel absolutely blessed to have such gorgeous surroundings so sometimes you’ll see photos of my garden, the clouds, nature, animals and plenty of other stuff that the good Lord has shared with us.

I’ve been blogging for around 5 years now, and can’t remember life B.B. (before blogging). I’ve been crafting a lot longer though, sewing since I can remember, but I started quilting about 15 years ago and I was instantly hooked!

I was a primary school teacher for 23 years and I got to use lots of crafty skills there, but there was never enough time for ‘me’ stitching….. nearly 4 years ago I had to have a knee replacement, which left me unable to keep up with the necessary daily requirements of a teacher (it’s a fairly physical job!), so I had to retire.

Since then, I’ve had plenty of time for my passion and I’ve become a stitchery and quilt designer (something that’s been on my bucket list), designing lots of various patterns which have appeared in Australian Patchwork and Stitching Magazines and can also be found on Craftsy.

I also enjoy a bit of cross stitch now and then

but I love to connect with my bloggy buddies. I hold monthly Friday Night Sew Ins on the third Friday of each month which I’d love for you to join in to…..just check out the tab at the top of my page for more info. I have some free designs (see the tab above) and I’ve got a free BOM starting up on March 1 (so watch this space).

I’m going to start a Double Wedding Ring-a-Long in the second half of the year too….I know this one’s on my ‘Must Complete One Day’ list, so what better way to do it than to do it with blogging buddies where we can support one another along the way. But more of that later.

I hope you enjoyed your visit…..I’m going to be popping along to others who have joined into the Grow Your Blog Party 2015 and take in some of the fun too. Vicki’s been a real champ having the blog links up and ready to make it easy to visit everyone.

Oh, and by the way, if you’ve got this far….congratulations! You’ve done well…….and make sure you leave me a comment with your name and contact email (none of this no-reply stuff….I can’t contact you then!) and you’ll go into the draw to win 2 of my PDF patterns –

the Love Life bag….

and the Give Thanks wall hanging…

My Grow your Blog Giveaway is open to everyone, overseas included, so be sure to share it with your friends (it IS the nice thing to do, isn’t it?!). Remember, all you have to do is comment on this post and be sure to leave me an email address to contact you if you win. The contest closes on February 15 when the winner will be announced.

Thursday, 22 January 2015

Yesterday was spent in the company of some very good friends of mine ours….I’m sure you’ll recognise them……

the only problem was, there was only two of them….Michelle didn’t make it. I missed her terribly….it’s been so long since I’ve seen these lovely girls, I was so looking forward to the day….but these gals kept me laughing, although we were minus the lovely Michelle (and Barb)!

Heather had made a scrummy slice for morning tea from a recipe I shared on Facebook (I’ve included the recipe below so you can try it yourself for our FNSI nibbles with our cuppa).

And she shared the gorgeous apron she’d made, but ‘someone’ decided she was going to model it for us….

….and then refused to take it off and wore it all day! Suited her too, don’t you think….after all, it IS her birthday next month, Heather!!! The frivolity went on all day, even when lunch was being prepared…..

This lot crack me up! You can see why we look forward to it so much!….I missed my chance though….whilst those two were preoccupied, I could have polished off the delish Rice Pudding that Jen brought along……talk about yummo! You can find the recipe for it on Jen’s blog here…it would be perfect as an after dinner treat tomorrow night! And finished off the way Jen did with apple jelly, fresh mango and blueberries…….…mmm mmmmmmmm, what more can I say!?

Our visit gave me a chance to hand over my Christmas gifts to the gals….

here’s what I made for Jen (I’ve been showing sneak peeks of it for a number of months now)….

and I made Heather a special ‘personalised’ gift to warn others to keep away from her fabulous stash which, by the way, would have to be the envy of ANY quilt shop…..

I might even have to write a pattern up for this one…..what do you think?

Michelle’s and Barb’s are waiting patiently at both Jen’s and Heather’s place for the next time they see each other. And Michelle’s birthday gift is also waiting to meet it’s owner.

Anyway, more finishes to contend with, so tomorrow night’s FNSI is perfect timing. Have you signed up yet? Make sure you do.. Sign ups are in this previous post. And here’s the recipe for our Simple Apple Slice…..wont take long to prepare and your nibblies for tomorrow night will be made!

But it arrived this week, thank goodness! I should have known, if anyone’s was going to go astray, it would be mine! My SSCS gift that I was sending to my partner in 2011 took the long road, and it wasn’t until the end of January that it found its way to its destination…but it did get there, so I was totally relieved! So deep in my heart, I knew this one would get here, and it was worth waiting for!

Carol made me a beautiful woollen table runner and, as she got caught up with the day to day’s (as we all do!), her hubby made me a beautiful ribbon winder/spool holder in place of the ornament….it’s absolutely gorgeous and I love it….definitely worth the wait.

I also received some peppermint bark chocolate and a very spesh Darjeeling teabag…can’t wait to try that. I would have loved more of the chocolate, but my ‘boys’ devoured most of it….I did get a taste though, and it was, *burp* delicious! Nothing like anything I’ve ever seen in Australia before.

That’s the great thing about swaps – you get to ‘experience’ things you wouldn’t ordinarily experience, from other parts of the world.

And my swap partner I was sending to was Gracie, in the US, so I thought a little winter white would fit into her decorating scheme?!

Gracie is fond of chocolate and thimbles, so I sent her some Lindt (which happened to be her favourite) and a pretty thimble I’d picked up for just such an occasion. Linen was on her list of ‘loves’ so I designed the Christmas ornie just for her - Reminds me of the gingerbread houses you see all around at this time of year.

I do have some other Christmas gifts I must show you, but seeing as some of them I’m giving to some very special stitchy friends tomorrow (because I haven’t had a chance to catch up with them in S-O-O-O-O-O-O-M-E time), I can’t show them just yet! But I promise, I will! *wink*

Monday, 19 January 2015

This Friday is our very first Friday Night Sew In for 2015....I've been waiting for this for the whoooooooole year! You too?

Let's try and make this the biggest so-far...setting the standard for 2015. Invite all your friends - post about it, remind them there are prizes too.....everyone is welcome! As we all know, the more the merrier!

I haven't taken photos yet, as I was at a workshop all weekend, but there will be 3 prizes this month to start us off ..... shall we make them a surprise?????

First off, sign up with Mr Linky below, leave a comment and go back to your blogs and share, share, share! Then, get yourself organised for our virtual Friday night get-together......plan what you're going to stitch/finish/make/prepare, decide on your nibblies to keep you energized and your fluids to keep you hydrated....... (strawberries and grapes are healthy!)

and yes, there will be some simple recipes here during the week for you to get ready in advance......We'll make this the friendliest year out, with lots of visitors coming to see what you're up to.I've got my 2015 UFO challenge to work on, the one I mentioned in this post. What have you got planned?

Tuesday, 13 January 2015

I’m all up for starting afresh at the beginning of each year…believe me, I need every incentive I can get to finish that ever-growing list of UFOs, so I was excited when I read Fee’s post about the APQ’s UFO Challenge 2015.

It’s so logical and seems so easy….It’s one of those, ‘why didn’t I think of that’ moments… Simply….

1. Download the chart.

2. Fill in twelve projects that you want to finish this year. You can choose from any of your UFOs. If you have a kit you bought but never opened or fabric you've been holding on to for too long, add using it up to the list. Embroidery, knitting, crochet, scrapbooking, and painting can count toward your list, too!

3. On the first Monday of each month, they'll randomly draw a number 1--12. That number will correspond with which number project you work on throughout the month. Fill in the description of where you were in the project before you start.

4. At the end of the month, fill in your progress and post pictures

5. By the end of the year, you'll have 12 finished projects! Or you'll at least have made a significant dent in your stack of UFOs.

So I’ve downloaded my list from here, and completed it with just ‘some’ of the many UFOs tucked away.

Believe me, I’ve tried to write allof them down and work my way through them but it always seems so overwhelming that I don’t even start, so this is one way to at least get 12 on the list done…..and knowing me (the procrastinator that I am), once I’ve starting and had some success, there might actually be MORE than 12 that get completed, because we all know starting is the hardest part! (don’t we?……Or is it just me?)

This month number 4 was randomly chosen, so that means I’m working on the Christmas Blessings Quilt, so I did a little more last night, adding some stitching to one of the blocks.